A total of 135 couples, including 11 inter-caste couples, married in a grand mass marriage ceremony at the ongoing Suttur Jatra Mahothsava on January 16 near Mysuru. The organisers said 67 couples were from Mysuru district and 53 from Chamarajanagar. Six couples came from Mandya, while one each arrived from Kalaburagi, Raichur, Bengaluru, and Ramanagara (Bengaluru South). Five couples from Tamil Nadu also joined the ceremony. Among the couples, 84 belonged to Scheduled Castes, 15 to Scheduled Tribes, 21 from Backward Classes, and four from the Veerashaiva Lingayat community. Three differently-abled couples and three couples marrying for the second time took part as well. The ceremony was witnessed by Suttur Mutt seer Shivarathri Deshikendra Swami, Transport Minister R. Ramalinga Reddy, and Administrative Reforms Commission chairperson R.V. Deshpande. Since 2000, Suttur has seen 3,346 couples married in mass weddings, and an additional 540 couples married in monthly ceremonies since 2009, totaling 3,886 couples who have wed at Suttur so far.